While the mercury has risen this week in Paris to more than 35°C, who can accept seeing the large trees in their neighborhood go up in smoke? A project to build a crèche in the 19th arrondissement of the capital is sparking the mobilization of many local residents and elected environmentalists. “Yes to crèche and intergenerational housing, but not without trees! » is written in the text of the petition launched on June 10 by local residents and residents, which gathered nearly 1,900 signatures this Monday, September 11.
The project opposed by local residents involves the reconstruction of the crèche, built in the 1960s and not renovated since the 1980s, on the green space on the other side of the street, currently sheltered by 12 chestnut trees. which would be cut. According to the mayor of the 19th arrondissement, rebuilding the crèche in the same location would deprive residents of 84 cradles for months or years, in a place that is sorely lacking in them. “We are in one of the most deficit districts of Paris,” explains François Dagnaud to 20 minutes.
“The current project is suspended”
But local residents don’t see it that way. To protest, they organized a demonstration which brought together nearly 200 people last Saturday, according to AFP. Alongside them, elected officials from the majority, including David Belliard, the deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the transformation of public space, came to defend “a new model of town planning where trees have their place”. “We are part of this majority but this mobilization helps us to put pressure” on these subjects, the president of the environmental group at the Paris Council, Fatoumata Koné, told AFP.
The mayor of the 19th arrondissement, however, wants to be reassuring. He explains that “the current project is suspended” and that his teams are “working to build a solution that will meet the two requirements: saving the trees and making this crèche”. François Dagnaud adds: “Today, pitting trees and children against one another can only lead to a dead end.” But the mayor also warns that the solutions proposed by the local residents’ collective do not appear feasible at this stage and that there is no “perfect solution”. “We are not going to put babies in prefabs. We must find a way to overcome this and reconcile the two requirements,” concludes the mayor.